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What is, besides a wallet, phone, and keys, a "must-have" object in your bag or pocket? The answer is, in fact, quite simple – headphones. Even though the original headphone use wasn't related to listening to music at all, they’ve been present in our lives for almost 140 years and they have significantly evolved since the day they first appeared. Regardless of their purpose and way of use, headphones have been an extremely important part of our lives and our love for them has been growing for decades. It seems that no human can go outside without a pair of headphones. No matter if they are full-size headphones or earbuds, they are a mandatory accessory of every modern person. When they were first produced, there was only one model of headphones, while today, there is something for every

Have you ever wondered what those numbers on the back side of some audio device packaging mean? We bet you have. Among the information about impedance, SPL, etc. there is one that is very important for us right now and we want to give you a thorough explanation of what it means and what it says about our devices. As you have probably guessed, we are talking about frequency response. It is expressed in Hertz (Hz) and it’s different for every audio device. It is given in a form of range (for example – 18Hz-22kHz). This range tells us the lowest and the highest frequency some audio device (speaker, headphones) can deliver. The frequencies within the range that a human ear can hear are called audible (or audio) frequencies and this range is known as our audio spectrum. The property t

What are Sound Signatures? Whenever buying an audio device, we are not only hoping that it will last long but also that it will sound just the way we like it. No matter if we are buying headphones or speakers, if they are expensive or cheap, our hopes remain the same. We are constantly buying new devices different from the previous ones trying to find the one that will suit our needs and taste perfectly. Unfortunately, there’s one “small” problem – we don’t always know what we are searching for and this makes our search even more difficult. The perfect sound that we are trying to find is actually a specific sound signature and every pair of headphones and every speaker have their own. Whether we are going to like it or not depends on our subjective feeling. The headphones and speakers

Noise is an omnipresent occupational hazard. So many workers, especially industry and construction workers all over the US, are exposed to excessive noise levels. Long-term exposure to these noise levels can cause hearing loss but can also affect human health in other ways. That’s why it’s so important to limit the exposure to excessive noise or, if that’s not possible, to use a hearing protection device (HPD). The market is flooded with all kinds of hearing protection earmuffs and earplugs, but which one should you choose?  The most important characteristic you should be looking for when choosing a hearing protection device is the device’s noise reduction rating (NRR). In layman’s terms, noise reduction rating describes the ability of a certain HPD to attenuate noise. However, there’s

Reading all those numbers from the speaker’s specifications list can be a real nightmare if you don’t know what to look for and what all the numbers mean. Even if you have some basic understanding of these specifications, you might get confused by different measurement methods and different units. One of the characteristics that can be really tricky is speaker sensitivity and there are numerous reasons for that – some manufacturers call it efficiency (sensitivity and efficiency are not the same things), some manufacturers use dB at 1m per 1W, others use dB at 1m per 2.83V, different manufacturers use different measurement methods, etc. The main problem with sensitivity is that there is no industry standard when it comes to measuring and unit of measurement that would be the same for all th

Before we start talking about stereo amplifiers, let’s say a few words about amplifiers in general because we are sure many people don’t completely understand the working principle of an amplifier. What Are Amplifiers? The first amplifier was invented by an American engineer Lee de Forest in the early 1900’s. The invention was, in fact, the electron vacuum tube that was named ‘’Audion’’ and its purpose was to amplify weak current. That, however, wasn’t the final design of the amplifier as the followers of Mr. de Forest (Irving Langmuir and Edward Armstrong) managed to really understand how the amplifier worked and perfect it based on the new knowledge. They made the triode – vacuum tube with no air that contains three components (positive terminal – platinum plate, negative terminal – ca

If you are looking to buy an outdoor speaker or sports headphones/earbuds and you did your research, you have probably seen some IPX rating in the specification list or on the box of the device you want to buy. Most of today’s outdoor speakers and sports headphones/earbuds have at least IPX4 rating and some even have IPX7 or IP67 ratings. In case you are not sure what those ratings actually mean, this short article will help you understand the purpose and meaning of each IP/IPX rating. What is IPX Rating and Why is it important? IP stands for International Protection or, in some cases, Ingress Protection. IP (or IPX) rating is the marking that describes the level of protection (provided by the enclosure of the device) against dust, water, and ingress of other particles or fluids. You